Chaired by Callum Chomczuk, national director of CIH Scotland and chair of the Scottish Housing Day 2025 working group
What kick-started Scotland's community-based housing association movement and what keeps activism going today?
Back in the 1970's, women were leading and driving change in their neighbourhoods and the development of CBHA's. What were the barriers they faced in catalysing community ownership and how can local people today build on the successes to improve neighbourliness and improve their sense of community?
Chair: David Bookbinder, director, GWSF
Professor McKee is Director of the postgraduate Housing Studies Programme at the University of Stirling. Prior to joining Stirling, she was Director of the St Andrew's Centre for Housing Research (2014-18). Kim has researched and published widely on housing inequalities, and has a longstanding interest in community ownership of social housing in the Scottish context.
David has been at GWSF since 2014. Since coming to Scotland in 1993, he has worked at the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations, CIH Scotland and (in a temporary capacity) the Scottish Government. His early career included housing posts at the London Borough of Hillingdon and Age Concern England.
Maureen is the former chair of Ardenglen Housing Association; a role she retired from last year. She began her voluntary roles in housing as the secretary of Castlebrae Housing Co-operative in 1989, before moving onto chair the organisation. This included leading a merger with neighbouring Ardenglen Housing Association in 1995, which she was then chair of for over 20 years. During this period, she also represented her association on many other committees, boards and campaigns, including the Clydeside Federation (which later became EVH) and the Castlemilk Community Ownership forum and the Bedroom Tax campaign. Maureen is also the chair of the Castlemilk Community Council and the Castlemilk Locality Development Plan. She has been a resident of Castlemilk for over 60 years and has a wealth of experience in housing and community issues.
Linda Cameron was elected to the management committee of Provanhall Housing Association in the 1990s. She was elected chairperson on three separate occasions, most recently in 2022. Beyond this Linda also serves as chair of the Easterhouse Housing and Regeneration Alliance (EHRA), a coalition of community-based housing providers working together across Greater Easterhouse. In this capacity, she has championed collaborative projects such as shared services, joint training, and community events, and has represented local housing interests in discussions with government ministers.
While housing is at the heart of any community, we all need more than just that. How are local people and statutory services working to improve communities, neighbourly relations and wellbeing across all of our communities?
Chair: Sue Shone, director of housing and care, Viewpoint Housing Association
Sue has worked in social housing in local government and housing associations, along with private housing, factoring and homelessness services in both England and Scotland. She joined Viewpoint in January 2025 as director of housing and care, responsible for the management of around 1,300 homes and two registered care homes. Sue previously worked with Chartered Institute of Housing Scotland and in partnership with the Scottish government, where she helped to shape the policy landscape and showcase good practice in housing in Scotland. She has also held varied volunteer board roles such as a converting a phone box to a ‘library of things’, a furniture re-use charity, CIH, and other RSLs. She is currently vice chair of Homes for Life Plus, based in Haddington.
.
Communities don't exist in isolation but respond to the political and economic context of their environment. What is impacting local communities across Scotland and what must come next?
Chair: Euan Leitch, chief executive, SURF
Euan Leitch joined SURF as Chief Executive in May 2021 following 8 years with the Built Environment Forum Scotland. At BEFS Euan delivered a strong programme of strategic policy work that included promoting and fostering the productive links between the built environment and community regeneration, diversity, resilience and the maintenance agenda. A priority for Euan is ensuring that communities experiencing the consequences of deprivation are actively involved in responding to the climate emergency. SURF has been highlighting good regeneration practice for 25 years and therefore has a wealth of examples to draw from. Euan is a trustee of Under One Roof.
At a time when people are embracing tech to work remotely, how can communities and local people repurpose our robotic revolution to bring people together?
Chair: Olivia Lindsay, depute CEO, Housing Options Scotland
Speaker information coming soon...